


feelin' good was good enough for me

by whyyesitscar



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-24 22:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20022040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whyyesitscar/pseuds/whyyesitscar
Summary: set before "winter soldier", carol and maria join natasha for drinks. there really isn't much more to it than that, tbh.





	feelin' good was good enough for me

**Author's Note:**

> hi friends. sorry that this isn't another chapter of the themyscira au, or the third installment of the series with steggy; the last couple of weeks have been capital-R rough and i'm hoping that writing this and some other smaller ideas i have will get me back into a good headspace to finish both of those up, bc they're definitely in the works and i feel bad that i haven't posted in a while.
> 
> but enough wallowing! this is 2K of pure feel-good friendship bc carol, maria, and nat deserve to be drinking buddies and close friends. once again, direct all praise and gratitude toward [@youngbloodbuzz](https://youngbloodbuzz.tumblr.com/), who supplied the prompt.
> 
> title from "me and bobby mcgee" by janis joplin, and lyrics from "baba o'riley" by the who.
> 
> please enjoy!

_the exodus is here, the happy ones are near;  
_ _let's get together before we get much older._

**.**

“You’re late.”

Carol smirks before turning around. “We could have been late together, but someone decided to ground herself.”

“Excuse me if I want to run a couple of tests before jetting off into space,” Maria teases. “Invulnerability isn’t just something you take someone’s word for.”

“Not even my word?” Carol grins.

“You? Queen of shortcuts, rogue pilot? Not a chance.”

Carol gasps. “That’s the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me.” But she can’t refrain from chuckling at the twinkle in Maria’s eyes.

Maria laughs with her; it sounds more like a song. “I swear, your hair gets shorter every time I see you.” She tucks a strand behind Carol’s ear. “We’re gonna match pretty soon.”

“I could think of worse things.”

“I’m offended at the implication that there’s anything bad about it.”

“I’ll tell you it’s good when you take my word that you’re indestructible now.”

There aren’t any lapels on Carol’s suit but Maria pulls her in for a kiss like there are.

“You can’t fly yet, can you?” Carol asks when they break apart.

“Just when—”

“Scientific answers only, please,” Carol teases. She scrunches her nose when Maria playfully pinches it.

“No,” Maria amends. “The only thing I know I can do is resist most forms of physical attack or injury.”

“Now that,” Carol grins, “is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever said to me.” She turns around and assumes a flight stance, waiting for Maria to climb onto her back. “Don’t hold onto my boobs this time; I need to focus on where we’re going.”

Maria gives them a squeeze anyway when Carol takes off. “I make no promises. Fly faster if it bothers you.”

Carol doesn’t.

/

“You’re late,” Natasha says as they walk in.

“Not my fault,” Carol retorts, at the same time that Maria blurts, “Blame Carol.”

“Hey!”

“You dropped me on the way here,” Maria accuses as she slides into the booth across from Natasha.

“Yeah, and then I caught you again. All in the pursuit of scientific progress.”

Maria rolls her eyes, but with a smile. “Good to see you, Nat.”

Carol cranes her head to find the door, or a beefy super-soldier walking through it. “No Steve?”

Natasha shakes her head. “I haven’t picked him up yet. Besides, I need a no-nonsense night before I have to corral his patriotism.”

“You might be disappointed then,” Carol says as she signals to a waitress, “because I intend to drink until this night is nothing but nonsense.”

“You are nonsense,” Maria teases.

Natasha shakes her head at the pair of them. “Can you even get drunk?”

Carol grins. “Probably not. But let’s test it anyway.”

/

“Okay, what I’m saying is that if time travel were possible, of course you could travel to the future because the future is already someone’s past.”

“But the future isn’t happening at the same time as the present.”

“Neither is the past.”

Maria groans and leans her head against the wall. Carol pats her knee, smiling when Maria grasps her hand in response. They’ve mastered this over the years, checking in with each other in the littlest of ways. If anyone in the world is capable of telepathy that isn’t also a superpower, it’s one of them.

“The past isn’t happening at the same time, but you can travel there because it’s already happened,” Natasha continues.

“I know, but”—Carol huffs and stretches as far as she can to dig in her pocket with her one free hand, the other still holding onto Maria—“I need some paper and a pen for this.”

“Please don’t,” Maria warns.

“Babe, I have to.” Carol looks around the bar to find their waitress, raising her hand once she’s sure she’ll be spotted. “Hey, Maggie,” Carol smiles once she finally comes over. “By any chance do you have a pen and some scrap paper I can borrow?”

“And by borrow you mean you’re gonna give it back to me all marked up?”

“Okay, so I’ll borrow the pen and you can charge me a buck for the paper.”

Maggie waits a moment before chuckling and ripping a sheet off of her notepad. “Let me go find an extra pen,” she says as she slides the paper over.

“And we definitely need another round,” Maria adds before she walks away. She turns to Carol once Maggie is out of earshot. “You’re driving that girl crazy.”

“Don’t sweat it; I’m gonna tip her, like, fifty percent.” Carol murmurs her thanks when Maggie comes back and immediately draws three parallel lines with staggered starting points.

“Okay, so imagine this is the past…”

Natasha chucks peanuts at her until she stops talking.

/

Maria and Carol yell as soon as the eight ball drops into the pocket. Half of their striped balls are still on the table; meanwhile, Nat’s cleared all of hers in two turns.

Maria finishes her bottle of beer and yanks the pool stick from Natasha’s hands. “You’re definitely cheating,” she accuses.

“How dare you,” Natasha deadpans. Nothing on her face moves either, and Carol thinks it must suck to be her enemy.

“Is there spit, is that what she’s doing?” Carol stands on her tiptoes to inspect the stick with Maria. “It’s the oldest trick in the book.”

“Which you know about because _you_ cheat?”

“Well, not now,” Carol scoffs. “But I’ve hustled a few assholes in my day.”

“They all deserved it, I’m sure.”

“You bet your ass they did.” She hands Natasha the triangle and starts retrieving the balls. “Best of seven, let’s go.”

“I think we should blindfold her this time,” Maria offers.

Carol’s so fucking in love.

/

“Do you ever get tired of it?” Carol asks in a quiet moment, when the bar is emptier and Maria is at the counter talking to Maggie, too engaged in conversation to remember she’s supposed to be getting the next round. Carol props her head up on a fist and watches. She doesn’t feel a lick of jealousy—Maria’s in it for the long haul, just the same as her—but she envies Maria’s affability. Carol is pleasant enough, but everyone loves Maria. (Carol did, at first sight and everything).

“The constant secrets,” she clarifies, finally tearing her eyes away from Maria.

Natasha shrugs. “It’s pretty much how I’ve always operated. I wouldn’t know what to replace them with.”

“Hm. I think about that sometimes,” Carol muses. “What my life would have been like without all the hiding and confidential bullshit.”

“Probably a lot like it is now.”

“Yeah. God, can you imagine?” She flicks a peanut shell across the table. “You don’t talk about yourself; I feel like a terrible friend for never asking. Do you have someone?”

“I’ve got you guys,” Natasha says. “Steve, Clint—hell, even Tony sometimes.”

“Gross.”

They both wait a moment before bursting into laughter.

“I mean, I’m flattered,” Carol continues, “but I meant—”

“I know. Maybe later.”

“There’s no such thing as later.”

“If this is another attempt to get me to talk about time travel, forget it.”

“It definitely isn’t,” Carol laughs. “I just mean that anything worth doing is worth doing now. You just...can’t plan for shit.”

“Are you saying there’s shit I can’t plan for or are you calling me a terrible strategist?”

“I can’t answer that on the basis that I’ve never run a mission with you from start to finish.” Carol prepares her next jab, ready to rebut anything Natasha’s about to throw at her, but Maria comes back with drinks first.

“Scoot over,” she says, already pushing her way onto the bench.

“Maria, we have to set Nat up with someone.”

“You really don’t,” Natasha pleads.

Maria takes a long sip of beer, her eyes darting between Carol and Natasha. “Not yet,” she agrees. “But maybe later.”

“You’re both infuriating and you’re doing this on purpose. I can’t believe it—my best friend and my wife, scheming against me...”

Maria simply winks.

/

The night comes to an end eventually, and Natasha convinces Carol not to fly her home. Carol pulls Maria into Nat’s car before anyone can protest and insists that they stop by S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters first, just so they can do some late-night testing in an environment actually suited for it.

( _None of us are drunk_ , Carol says, and eventually even Maria is on board.)

The halls of the lower laboratory are quiet but alive; they can hear humming machines and technicians on the early shift in every couple of rooms. No one peeks out to see who else is around.

“You’ve got an hour, and then I really do need to get Steve.”

“Cool, yeah, sounds great—do you have, like, a big strap of fabric or something?”

“I...need an explanation for that, but also I don’t really want to hear it.”

“What?” Carol looks to Maria, whose eyebrows are raised almost as high as Natasha’s. “What, no—that’s not—I was thinking we could make me some kind of, like, pouch or whatever so I can carry people when I fly instead of making everyone hold on really tight. And while you do that, I can figure out just how many new powers Maria has.”

Natasha fixes her with a long-suffering glare, hands planted firmly on her hips. “As soon as I leave this room, you two are gonna make out.”

“No way,” Carol scoffs. “We’ll be good for, like, five whole minutes.” She smiles until Natasha walks away.

“I don’t think you can even last five minutes,” Maria baits.

“I totally can, I promise. I really want to find out what you can do.”

“Give me more than five minutes and I’ll show you.”

“Maria.”

“Yes, baby.”

“I’m very serious about this, at least for the next four minutes and twenty seconds.”

Maria smiles, close-lipped and playful, and stands in front of Carol with her hands clasped behind her back. “Okay, okay. What’s first?”

“Not every Kree has extra powers but their blood is regenerative, so I know you’re basically invulnerable and you can heal fast. I think what we should test first is how strong you are.”

Maria doesn’t waste any time in picking her up; Carol short circuits immediately.

“God, and I thought you were hot before…”

“Focus, Carol.”

“Yep, no sweat. Okay, can I just—” She wriggles out of Maria’s grasp until she’s floating two feet above her head, then she wraps Maria’s arms around her legs. “Try to stop me from flying but also let yourself get dragged.”

“What?” She’s pulled forward as Carol flies around the room, picking up weights and equipment and even an entire safe. “Oh, I get it.”

Maria tightens her grip and keeps an eye on how much Carol is carrying, mostly to make sure she’s not going to get hurt, but also a little bit to distract herself from looking...elsewhere. Carol gradually slows down; pride bubbles up in Maria’s chest. Maria smiles at the state of Carol, tactical backpack on her shoulders, large microscopes hanging from her forearms. Her grip loosens as her gaze travels downward. She rarely gets to see the back of Carol’s suit; any chance she gets, Carol’s usually flying away too fast for her to notice anything.

“You’re getting distracted,” Carol calls out. Maria can hear the smirk.

“The back of this suit is sinful,” Maria replies.

Carol pauses in midair before descending and dropping the things she’s carrying with an attempt at consideration for their value. She stands in front of Maria, deliberately lingering instead of turning around.

“If you’re waiting for me to complain,” Maria says, “I’m not gonna.”

Carol turns to face her, smile on her cheeks and love in her eyes. “If this suit is so sinful, we should definitely get one for you.” Her hands are at Maria’s hips immediately, wide and strong and purposeful as they roam.

“I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been five minutes yet,” Maria murmurs, walking backwards with hopes of eventually finding a wall.

Carol catches on and helps steer, her eyes never leaving Maria’s. “I don’t care,” she says when they finally bump into one. She waits for just another moment, eyes soft and twinkling, before leaning up to kiss Maria, pressing her into the wall with lust and intention.

Maria remembers two sounds—Natasha’s sigh and the click of the lock—before the world fades to nothing but Carol.


End file.
